San Francisco Giants - TeamReport

June 18, 2013|Reuters

MLB Team Report - San Francisco Giants - INSIDE PITCH

When is Angel Pagan returning to the Giants' lineup?

Well, his hamstring injury isn't as minor as it first was perceived to be. It's now known that the center fielder had a platelet-rich-plasma injection during his time on the disabled list and that surgery was mentioned as an option.

Asked about a return to the lineup, Pagan said, "What day? I don't know."

The last day Giants fans saw Pagan on the field was the day he hit an inside-the-park, game-ending homer, May 25 against the Rockies. A cortisone shot a few days later didn't help that much, in retrospect, and now his return is up in the air.

The plasma injection was done to quicken the healing process, and it isn't known how much of a help that was, either.

The Giants' medical staff has discussed possible surgery. Manager Bruce Bochy said a procedure to fix a muscle near the tibia in Pagan's left leg could shelve the center fielder six to eight weeks.

Even if Pagan gets back on the field quickly, his return to the lineup won't be immediate. First, he'll go on a minor league rehab assignment.

In Pagan's absence, Gregor Blanco has received the bulk of the playing time in center field and the leadoff position. Blanco went 2-for-6 Monday in the Giants' 5-3, 13-inning loss to the Padres.

--2B Marco Scutaro could return to the lineup as early as Tuesday after passing a variety of tests on his left pinkie finger. The veteran has been wearing a custom orthotic split on his finger while taking batting practice and fielding grounders. So far, so good. How the finger will respond to such things as applying a tag on a hard-charging baserunner is another matter. Even if Scutaro does start Tuesday, it will be very much on a trial basis. He sat out his sixth consecutive game Monday.

--RHP Matt Cain got off to a slow start this season, going winless in six April starts. It's now clear why it happened: He was unlucky. The Giants had two three-game series against the Padres in April, and Cain's turn didn't come up in either. It's a safe bet he wouldn't have gone 0-for-April if that hadn't been the case. Cain owns the Padres, his opponent Tuesday, having limited them to a 3.17 ERA in 30 career starts. The dominance reached new heights last season when the Padres managed all of one run against Cain in two starts, a stretch of 15 innings. Cain won both of those games, and he's gone 5-1 since the calendar changed from April to May this season.

--CF Angel Pagan spent another day Monday trying to convince Giants management he doesn't need surgery on his troublesome hamstring, and the team brass spent another day unwilling to remove Pagan from the disabled list. So the stalemate continues. Pagan has received cortisone and platelet-rich-plasma injections since suffering what at the time was deemed an insignificant injury May 25. He says he's feeling better and hopes to be back in action by the end of the week. The Giants already have announced that Pagan's next action, whenever it is, will come in the minor leagues on a rehab assignment. If that were to occur later this week, Pagan could be back in a Giants uniform early next week. Then again, he also could be scheduled for surgery by that point, and that could lead to a two-month layoff.

--3B Pablo Sandoval is scheduled to come off the disabled list June 24. Being that the Giants are scheduled to open a series against the Dodgers in Los Angeles that day, the club would like nothing more than to see Sandoval arrive at that date fully healthy. It's nearly a week away, but all indications are Sandoval will be back at third base that night. His strained foot is making what the Giants label daily improvement, which is what it's going to take to make his deadline.